EQUITY TRADING

EQUITY TRADING In a bumper year on Wall Street, the value of shares changing hands soared to an all-time high of $5.3 trillion, up by more than 40% on 1996's stockmarket turnover. But that was nothing compared with an almost three-fold increase in trading in nervous Hong Kong. In contrast, Tokyo's turnover fell last year. Expressed as a proportion of America's total stockmarket capitalisation, turnover rose to 54%. But that was still below its average of 57% during 1987-96, according to Morgan Stanley Capital International. All of the other countries in our chart had higher turnover relative to market capitalisation last year than their average during the previous ten years. Spain had the highest turnover in 1997, equivalent to 146% of its market capitalisation—up from an average of 47% in 1987-96. Britain had the lowest turnover, at 40%.